Normally, picking up hitchhikers is a really bad idea. You never know what sort of ax-wielding entrepreneur you're going to get. But if you happen to see this friendly LED face on the side of the road, consider giving it a lift. That face belongs to hitchBOT, of Port Credit, Ontario, Canada. On Friday, it left the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts for an adventure on America's highways. Its final destination: San Francisco's Exploratorium. On the way, hitchBOT hopes to see some sights including Time Square in New York City; Millennium Park in Illinois; Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. If only there were hotels it could stay at or shows it could see along the way. There's no timetable for when it will finally reach the City by the Bay, but you can be sure that it will have plenty of tales to tell once it does.

Sphero, the ball-shaped robot, inspired a new generation of toys that aren't only fun, but can also be used as educational tools for kids. Vortex, pictured above, is one of these. Created by DFRobot, a company that's been selling open-source hardware since 2008, Vortex is being revealed today via Kickstarter, with the goal being to raise $50,000 through crowdfunding. Vortex, which is small enough to fit on the palm of your hand, is described as a smart and responsive device that's meant to inspire incredible fun and creativity -- and that it does. It's not nearly as fast as the Sphero 2.0 or Ollie, but Vortex wants to shine in other specific areas, namely its multiplayer and Arduino features.Slideshow-303758

Foot soldiers thrive on their shooting skills, but learning expert marksmanship can take a long, long time. US Army researchers could soon have a robotic shortcut to improving those skills, however. They're working on MAXFAS, an arm exoskeleton that uses cable-activated arm braces to correct involuntary arm shakes while you're shooting -- think of it like a stabilized camera. The carbon fiber body is light enough that it doesn't weigh you down, and it's smart enough to detect the differences between purposeful movements (such as aiming) and tremors.

Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a robotic cockroach that can crawl through the tightest of gaps. The team began by studying actual cockroaches, observing how they moved through the densely packed rainforest floor. While some obstacles are pushed past or climbed over, the cockroaches frequently rolled their body at an almost-90-degree angle to scamper through openings. The next step was to fit these real-world 'roaches with artificial shells and see how this aided or hampered their mobility. The result was perhaps obvious: the less cylindrical the shell, the less effective the insects were at performing the roll manoeuvre.

For patients suffering from the effects of a stroke, ALS or muscular dystrophy, routine tasks like picking up a cup or grabbing a doorknob can be infuriatingly difficult. That's due to their lack of hand strength or fine motor control. However, this prototype "soft robotic" glove may soon restore their gripping abilities by doing the heavy squeezing for them. Developed by a research team at Harvard University, the glove is designed to augment the user's remaining hand strength and mobility. The device works by filling small water bladders located in each finger. When water from a reservoir on the wrist is pumped in, the fingers (and thumb) curl over in a grasping motion. Right now, that's all the glove is capable of doing. Still, that's enough for users to be able pick up and manipulate small objects they were not able to before.

Humanoids are supposed to be best suited for a world that's engineered for humans. They can climb stairs, open doors and drive cars. At DARPA Robotics Challenge, most of the participating humanoids succeeded in completing those tasks, but when it came to walking, they were clumsier than the species they were designed to emulate. Getting a machine to put one foot in front of the other has been a priority for roboticists for decades. Bipedal locomotion would presumably make it easier for robots to navigate a man-made world and perhaps make them more relatable. But the movement requires sophisticated control software and advanced AI technology that isn't quite ready yet.

The robot apocalypse has been postponed. At DARPA Robotics Challenge in California, where the world's best and brightest robots came to compete, the machines were far from invincible. They moved at a glacial pace, stumbled and slammed to the ground and lay there motionless until their teams of humans came with a rig to pick them up. But their falls and flaws revealed how vulnerable they are, and actually made them seem more human in the process. These machines exhibited grit, intelligence and dexterity that could potentially make them stellar first-responders in disaster situations in the near future. Slideshow-295225

So what if some mechanical cheetah can hop curbs in stride? The ATRIAS bipedal robot from Oregon State University can now step over obstacles without even looking. For this experiment, the ATRIAS was not outfitted with an imaging or navigation system and could only react to obstacles once it ran into them. As you can see in the video below, a 15-cm step is no match for this robo-ostrich. Even when planting its foot awkwardly or catching a toe, the ATRIAS soldiers on. It's only a matter of time until climbing stairs is just a walk in the park for the high-stepping automaton.

As a rule, robots have to learn through explicit instruction, whether it's through new programming, watching videos or holding their hands. UC Berkeley's BRETT (Berkeley Robot for the Elimination of Tedious Tasks) isn't nearly that dependent, however. The machine uses neural network-based deep learning algorithms to master tasks through trial and error, much like humans do. Ask it to assemble a toy and it'll keep trying until it understands what works. In theory, you'd rarely need to give the robot new code -- you'd just make requests and give the automaton enough time to figure things out.

Does DARPA employ psychics or something? I mean they must, or how else can you explain this precognitive glimpse at the modern world? The advanced research agency produced it more than a decade ago! Admittedly, many of the ideas featured were already rolling out, in development or pulled from sci-fi, but you can see the futuristic vision (and ugly UIs everywhere) in this DARPA film, Strategic Cyber Defense. Included are a number of modern technologies such as ubiquitous touchscreens, voice activated computer interfaces (a la "Ok Google"), advanced behavioral analysis, real-time translation and automated cyber-defenses. Watch the video below to see how many of today's future technologies you can spot -- and how many are better off left as concepts that didn't pan out.

Telecommuting surgeons are becomingly increasingly adept at working on humans but there are still limits on what they can do using the stiff metal manipulators of a robotic stand-in like the DaVinci. This new omnidirectional grasping appendage, however, could one day wind its way into the most remote corners of your body cavity and gently cradle your guts with the same dexterity as an octopus' tentacle.

Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation announced Friday that it will provide Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) exosuits to select senior employees as part of a pilot program aimed at reducing the strain of moving currency. "There have been many cases when a physical burden was placed on senior employees carrying heavy parcels of banknotes and coins. By adopting Cyberdyne's robotic suits, we can help reduce that burden," Tomoyuki Narita, a spokesman at SMBC, told the Wall Street Journal. About 16 percent of Sumitomo's employees (and 25 percent of the nation) are over the age of 65. The HAL is designed to augment its user's strength, reducing the perceived weight of an item by 40 percent so that a 10-pound weight only "feels" like it weighs 6 pounds. Should the pilot program prove effective, Sumitomo could expand it to more branches throughout Japan.

We've seen Oregon State University's ATRIAS robot prove its mettle in a controlled environment, sure, but what changes when it goes for a stroll in the great outdoors? Perhaps unsurprisingly, not a whole lot. The biped doesn't have a problem going uphill, downhill, maintaining balance when dodgeballs hit it and even handles variations in terrain with aplomb. It doesn't seem to have any issues changing speed, either. Basically, this proves that the ATRIAS doesn't need perfect conditions to operate, which is important because let's face it: the real world is far from perfect.The upside to all of this is that unlike humans, robots don't quite get stage-fright so replicating these actions in front of a crowd at the DARPA Robotics Challenge come June likely won't be an issue.

"Crabots" will help build Google's sprawling Mountain View campus. According to Architects Journal's latest report, these robot-crane hybrids will play a specific role in the construction of the Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick designed structure. The UK publication is privy to detailed planning documents that the tech giant submitted to the City of Mountain View Council in Silicon Valley. The papers include mock-ups of the machines that will lift and shift the block-like "pre-fabricated" components inside the structure. The objective, according the report, is "to create a solution that can be assembled efficiently and economically within pre-erected canopy structures by means of small, easily manoeuvrable cranes."

A swarm of small robots developed by a team of European scientists can carefully extract and transport vehicles up to two tons in weight. These tiny machines and their larger deployment unit are collectively called Avert, short for "Autonomous Multi-Robot System for Vehicle Extraction and Transportation." As the name implies, the system needs very little human input: it can scan the area and look for potential obstacles to plan its safest route. The deployment unit will then release the small robots, which attach themselves to the vehicle that needs extraction. As much as we'd love for Avert to rescue us from bad parking situations, though, it was specifically developed for use by law enforcement.

You could swap hands with the Robot Devil and still not be as good a chef as this prototype from Moley Robotics. The unit consists of two mechanical arms terminating in a pair of highly dexterous biomimetic hands. Designed by 2011 MasterChef winner Tim Anderson, and currently on display at the Hanover Messe industrial robotics show, these arms move just like he does. Namely because that's what they were programmed to do. To "teach" the unit to make crab bisque for the show, Anderson didn't spend countless hours hand coding the unit's behavior and actions. Instead, he constructed a replica kitchen, set up motion capture cameras, then made the dish himself and had his movements digitized for the robot to mimic.

The ability to control prosthetics with only the power of your mind has been around for a while, but it typically requires control electronics implanted directly into the patient. With this new, non-invasive method developed at the University of Houston, however, amputees can command their robotic limbs without surgery. Instead of implants, the UH system uses a wearable "thinking cap" (aka an EEG) that monitors brain activity externally through the scalp. A brain-machine interface (BMI) then interprets these brain waves and converts that intention into mechanical motion. Basically, the patient thinks about picking up an object, the BMI recognizes the intention and then tells an attached prosthetic to do so. Even at this early stage of development, University of Houston researchers have gotten the system to work properly 80 percent of the time.

My love affair with mechanical companions can be traced back to Teddy Ruxpin, the animatronic bear that replaced the inanimate My Buddy doll as my go-to plaything as a young boy. But three nights in Las Vegas almost destroyed that lifelong fascination. Almost.

At CES 2015 you could hardly turn your head without smacking into a 4K display, but finding a robot companion takes a bit of legwork. Luckily, we trolled the halls of the LVCC and beyond to find the most exciting (and often frightening) advances in unmanned technology. From drones that track you through the desert to an Android employee with lifelike expressions, check out the video and photo tours below to witness the fascinating future of robots and drones at CES 2015.

For a closer look at these robots, drones and more check out our 2015 CES Field Guide.Slideshow-259970 Slideshow-259867

Disney's upcoming animated film Big Hero 6, about a boy and his soft robot (and a gang of super-powered friends), is perhaps the largest big-budget mash-up you'll ever see. Every aspect of the film's production represents a virtual collision of worlds. The story, something co-director Don Hall calls "one of the more obscure titles in the Marvel universe," has been completely re-imagined for parent company Disney. Then, there's the city of San Fransokyo it's set in -- an obvious marriage of two of the most tech-centric cities in the world. And, of course, there's the real-world technology that not only takes center stage as the basis for characters in the film, but also powered the onscreen visuals. It's undoubtedly a herculean effort from Walt Disney Animation Studios, and one that's likely to go unnoticed by audiences.

The authenticity of native eats can vary from generation to generation, or country to country if you're eating in a place different than where a dish was originally created. But that's not to say there aren't cases in which things are cooked and made the right way. Thailand, as you're likely aware, is home to some delicious food, and the government now wants to make sure that its most popular dishes are being represented well. To do so, "e-Delicious," a robot capable of tasting food and making sure it meets various quality standards, was built. The idea came from Thailand's Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, as she became interested in fighting against bad Thai food in Thailand and elsewhere across the world.

When we think about robotics, we don't typically think about a lump of inert foam -- but with the right clothing, it counts. Researchers at Purdue University are developing a robotic fabric that can be used to make so-called "soft" robots out of foam and other lightweight materials. The team has embedded fabric with a flexible polymer that changes shape and rigidity when heated, allowing it to be contracted or relaxed at will. Wrap a specifically assigned swatch of this cloth around a piece of foam, and it can be coaxed into bending, wriggling or moving in specific ways. "We will be able to design reboots on the fly," Purdue University's Rebecca Kramer says. "Anything can be a robot because all of the robotic technology is in the fabric or skin."

Soft robots aren't just supremelyflexible; they can take quite a bruising, too. If you need proof, a team of Harvard and Cornell researchers has developed a rugged soft robot that can survive conditions which would wreck stiffer machines. As you'll see in the video below, the automaton's silicone shell has no trouble wading through snow, walking over fire and enduring the crush of a car's tires. It's a bit of a workhorse as well, with upgraded pneumatics that can carry loads up to about 18 pounds. This is still early technology -- the bot doesn't move quickly, and its battery lasts a mere two hours -- but it's proof that squishy robots are well-suited to working in dangerous situations.

We're interrupting your regularly scheduled programming full of cute, service robots to bring you the latest update on Boston Dynamics' terrifying humanoid machine: Atlas. A group of MIT researchers have been working to refine their Atlas unit's capabilities since 2013 for DARPA's Robotics Challenge. The result? They've managed to program the machine to carry objects of different weights in each hand, making it more effective for real-life applications, like construction or clearing debris during times of disaster. You'll see what we're talking about when you watch the video below, showing Atlas lugging an aluminum pillar with one hand.

Those of you with recurring Terminator-esque nightmares of a not-so-distant future ruled by machines won't have to worry much about one robot developed by a research team at the University of Tokyo. The group (which happens to be the same one that created a robot that'll cheat its way to rock-paper-scissors victory every time) crafted a bipedal 'bot called Achires that can run at speeds up to 2.6 miles per hour. What makes Achires so special is that it doesn't actually factor in complex biomechanical factors like the zero moment point. Instead, its creators have a high-speed camera trained on it at all times, and the system uses all that visual data to continually keeps the robot's running posture stable. The end result? A way to get a robot running that doesn't require the sheer computational horsepower that some of its other bipedal cousins do. A few limitations help ensure that the Achires won't race into anyone's night terrors. It's downright tiny, for one -- it's legs are only about 5.5 inches, and they can only keep up that pace for about ten seconds. Oh, and the very camera technology that allows it to run with proper form in the first place means the Achires can't break free of its stage anyway -- you're all safe, don't worry.